The
BBC's
Kate McGeown has written a good introduction as to
why the Indonesian province of Aceh is spirally towards a war...
In brief, the Acehnese want
independence (or genuine autonomy) while the Indonesians are only offering
autonomy (on their terms) +
70% of the area's natural gas revenues in return for disarmament, and so far neither side has shown much willingness to live up to the conditions of the
Cessation of Hostilities Agreement reached last December...
Unfortunately, the stationing of
30,000+ Indonesian troops in Aceh,
arrests of 5 independence leaders + associated
threats mean that a peaceful resolution now looks increasingly unlikely and it appears as though the civilians population have every right to fear
what the future may hold...
Unlike
East Timor the Aceh province was not illegally seized following independence from the Dutch in 1945 (although there has been an independence campaign for
26 years) and the international community has consequently been extremely reluctant to challenge the behaviour of Indonesian government... in part due to concern over what
the break-up of Indonesia, including independence for
West Papua and
Aceh, might mean for neighbouring countries but perhaps also due to the West being prepared to accept the suppression of various Islamic areas within Indonesia (whether or not they are an external threat) following the Bali bombing...
Over
10,000 people, including
many civilians, have been killed in decades of conflict and according to
Human Rights Watch the human rights record of the Indonesian military is far from unblemished in Aceh.
Previous statements from
Amnesty International suggest that the behaviour of the military hasn't been any better in
East Timor or
West Papua and that there are therefore very good reasons to be concerned about
what might be about to happen in Aceh...
See this
press release from
TAPOL (The Indonesia Human Rights Campaign) and the
Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) for details of a
protest outside the UK Foreign Office in Whitehall from 12:00 to 2:00 pm on
Friday 23 May and for the addresses of
who to write to in the British Government re: the UK's
arms exports, the
Indonesian Government and/or Indonesia's Embassy in London about the
war in Aceh and
Exxon Mobil (who have operations in the vicinity of the conflict) re: the protection and monitoring of human rights during this conflict - which has already led to the
destruction of 150 schools...
Further
briefing material is available
here.